On Monday the BBC’s flagship arts programme, Front Row, marked the 40th anniversary of the release of The Age of Consent, Bronski Beat’s debut album, on 15th October 1984. Presenter Samira Ahmed talked to Laurie Belgrave, founder and director of the south London queer bar and performance collective, The Chateau, and novelist, Matt Cain, formerly editor of Attitude. How far […]
Tag: gay
The road less traveled by
“I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.” The final two lines of Robert Frost’s poem, The Road Not Taken, take me back to a turning point in my life that I had cause to reflect on at the recent Stonewall Scotland Equal at Work conference. I had been […]
On the death of a friend in shot gun alley
On Monday I lost a good friend in shot gun alley. I’m told that’s a term for our 50s. The idea is that if you make it through the random fire of premature death you’ll probably live to a ripe old age. I’ve no idea of the veracity of the claim. But on hearing of […]
Rainbow Laces comes to Scottish athletics
One of the big sports stories of the last week has been the decision of rugby league star Keegan Hirst to come out. People have rightly praised his bravery. But others will be probably be thinking surely it doesn’t matter, it’s nobody’s business but his own. However, the very fact that it’s such an uncommon […]
Ten fault lines at the heart of the Farron affair
Much has been written and spoken about Tim Farron’s views on homosexuality. Initially, I hadn’t intended to add my voice to the mix. But the more I’ve explored the coverage, the more I’ve been struck by a series of tensions and contradictions in the commentary. This piece is in part about Farron but also about […]
Enniscorthy, equal marriage and the ’embrace of love’
There are moments when something immediately resonates. Such a moment happened to me earlier this week when I learned that in the midst of the referendum debate about equal marriage in Ireland a number of people had walked out during Saturday evening Mass at an Irish cathedral. The walk out happened because the bishop had […]
Equal Marriage: A big step closer to One Scotland
Scotland awoke to historic change this morning. Equal Marriage is legal. It’s splashed across the headlines. From today couples already in Civil Partnerships will be able to convert them to marriages and from 31st December those not already in Civil Partnerships will be able to marry. These changes received broad support from across the political […]
Civil partnership conversions: let’s celebrate difference and sameness
On Wednesday this week couples in civil partnerships in England and Wales were able to convert their civil partnerships to marriages for the first time. Scotland follows suit next Tuesday, though as yet there are no provisions in Northern Ireland. It was a landmark moment, as Stonewall rightly point out, another step towards full equality. […]
Celebrating the power of adoption
‘ADOPTION is the most wonderful experience on the planet… when you see the number of children out there looking for homes and families, it’s just wrong not to go for it.’ These are the words of Anne and Mark, adoptive parents in BAAF Scotland’s film, made to help recruit more adopters. This is National Adoption […]
Pits and Perverts: the magic of LGSM
Last night a new play opened at the Derry Playhouse. Pits and Perverts is written by Micheal Kerrigan and is about an extraordinary moment in British labour history. It tells the story of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM). I wrote about LGSM earlier this year in my blog about Margaret Thatcher’s legacy for […]
